5 things happening in my life

1. Stumps. 

We picked up a bunch of tree stumps a few weeks ago that were up for grabs in our church's parking lot. Okay, that makes it sound like we just popped the trunk and threw a few logs on our way home one Sunday afternoon.

Not true.

We geared up in old jeans, sturdy shoes, and work gloves, rented a truck on Abe's day off, and caravanned over with the truck and 3 kids in the car. While Abe and I hefted stumps into the pickup, the kids played on devices in their car seats. And by hefted I mean grunted, strained, and turned purple in the face moving these unbelievably dense pieces of wood. About 40 of them.

I have affectionately re-christened our backyard "stump land". We have big plans for play areas, sitting areas, and a wooden path. The only thing standing between us and those big plans is stump treatment and sealing, a circular saw, and some time.

They really are pretty stumps.

2. Crawling. 

Isis is quickly turning into a master crawler. She finally figured out how to go around the kitchen table to get from the living room to the kitchen, instead of just getting stuck under the dining room chairs. Her favorite backyard activity is to escape her blanket and bee line to either the garden mulch or the water hoses. Yum.

3. Little Herbals. 

Also on Isis. Several months ago Genghis started calling her Little Herbals. The name has stuck.

4. Pictures on the wall. 

After over 8 months of living in our new home, we finally hung pictures on the wall. I think I was unknowingly going through artwork withdrawal because I now find myself just sitting on the couch for long periods, staring at our decorated walls and thinking, that looks so good. no, like, so ridiculously good. It doesn't. It's nice, but nothing more.

I guess staring at yellow-neutral walls for 8 months can really get inside a person.

5. No whining policy. 

Hm. I don't really want to write about this because it is frustrating. Let's just say that a certain member of the family has really latched on to whining as a go-to tactic for attention, help, and general life strategy. We are trying to clamp down with a no whining policy. Bracing myself for another day.

I should go look at those pictures again.